Snowy Desires
by Kyki
Summary: Naruto's one desire on Christmas is for it to snow. But why? Takes place one year after Sasuke leaves for Sound SasuNaru NaruSasu implied.


Alright, so this is my Christmas-themed story for Naruto. Eh heh, technically I'm a bit late, since it's six minutes past midnight and therefore no longer Christmas, but whatever. Please enjoy anyway. : -)

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**Snowy Desires**

_Naruto's Wish_

"Naruto, you've been sitting up here all day. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong, Sakura-Chan."

Though the words were spoken in a cheerful manner, the smile that greeted the pinkette's inquiries seemed different than his usual bright grin. Soon azure gaze fluttered away from his friend and toward the sky, locking on the midnight blue heavens with great intensity.

Sakura watched her teammate silently, brows furrowing in thoughtful worry as she looked him over. He appeared well enough- No noteworthy injuries, no evidence of illness, no abnormal imperfects with his appearance that could suggest anything significant. His composure, though still that of his usual passion, was slightly altered, truth be told. The aspiring Hokage looked both determined and sad at the same time, something that had become more and more frequent during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Sighing softly, frustrated with her inability to figure out just what was ailing her companion, Sakura sat down beside him with a soft huff. The shinobi's gaze didn't shift to her, though, but remained on the cloudless atmosphere. The sky expressed an almost intimate quality to it when one peered at it from upon the Hokage Mountain, Sakura realized, and it seemed so much closer to them than ever before.

"You know what I want for Christmas, Sakura-Chan?"

The soft words that broke the silence were barely caught by the young woman, having not expected the seemingly random question. Still, she acknowledged them and answered nonetheless, regardless of the uselessness of it all. "No… You wouldn't tell me earlier when I asked. What **do** you want?"

"Snow. All I want this year is for it to snow." The words were spoken in a matter-of-fact manner, the smile that accompanied them holding an air of secrecy and bitter-sweet pride.

"Why? Whenever we go to Snow Country you always complain about the cold weather. Why would you want it to snow?" Sakura questioned, puzzlement shining within emerald orbs as she stared curiously at her companion. "In any case, snowfall is rare in Fire Country. We only get it about three times a year and it doesn't look like we'll be getting any very soon." She pointed out, sharing her logic though her tone was slightly gentle, as if she felt bad for perhaps disappointing the other.

Naruto's disposition never once faltered, however, and he simply spoke as if she hadn't stated her second remark. "'Cause _he_ liked the snow."

Silence.

Both knew all too well who 'he' was and the mere mentioning of his existence was enough to tug painfully at Sakura's heart and disrupt the strength she had been working so hard to achieve.

"Naruto-"

"This'll be our first Christmas without him, Sakura-Chan. Without _Sasuke. _I mean, sure, he was never one to willingly celebrate with us anyway, but at least we had the chance to drag him to the parties and all that, whether he liked it or not. Remember last year?"

A small smile graced her features in spite of herself and Sakura found her thoughts trailing to the Christmas party of last year, which Kakashi had decided to throw as a reward for his team's efforts… As well as an excuse to act even more perverted and ridiculous as usual.

_"Saaasssukkeee..."_

_"No."_

_"But Sasuke…!"_

_"Damnit, Naruto! I said no! For the love of… You're fucking drunk. If you can't hold your liquor, you shouldn't drink in the first place!"_

_A look of pure horror flashed across the usual stoic Uchiha's face when Naruto successfully latched onto him despite his words, wrapping his legs around Sasuke's waist and his arms around his neck._

_"Teme," The blonde began, words slurred as the alcohol took effect, "it's Christmas. Loosen up, will ya? And the rules say that if yer under the mistletoe you have to kiss the person with you! C'mon, we've already kissed before, in the academy, so it's no big deal." With that, Naruto promptly pressed his lips clumsily against his teammate's, blue eyes half lidded in a lazy manner._

_And though the Kyuubi-vessel hadn't remembered anything the next morning, Sasuke certainly had and well, he found that he didn't particularly hate the memory. Of course, dealing with the frantic blonde later had been tedious, who had been totally freaked out by his actions and kept claiming that it was the alcohol's fault and not his._

_Still, many would later remark that Naruto hadn't seemed quite as angry with the kiss than he should have been._

"If it snows, maybe he'll be a little happier, ya know? Cause he may be a bastard, but even he deserves some peace at Christmas." Naruto murmured thoughtfully, though Sakura knew that the desire for snow wasn't just for Sasuke's benefit, but for Naruto's aching heart as well.

The two allowed a comfortable silence to wash over them, neither saying a word as they stared up at the sky. The chance for snow was slight, Naruto knew, but there was still a whole minute left of Christmas, so not all hope was lost.

"Snow! Snow already!" Naruto urged in a whisper, making it a point to ignore the pitying glance Sakura cast in his direction.

As if some higher being had heard his plea, clouds seemed to slowly become evident, their dark and gloomy depths swirling and shifting, hardly noticeable within the darkened sky. And slowly, as the last few seconds of Christmas ticked away, snow began to fall.

"Merry Christmas, Sasuke-teme."

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**Kyki's Corner**

Well, what do you guys think? Read and review, please. nn I know it's not very long, but I think it came out how I wanted it to anyway.


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